History of the FranksGregory, Bishop of Tours, Saint
History
History of the Franks
Gregory, Bishop of Tours, Saint
France -- Church history -- To 987; France -- History -- To 987; Franks -- History -- To 768
[I]And of these the blessed Dionisius, bishop of Paris, after
suffering divers pains in Christ’s name, ended the present life by
the threatening sword. And Saturninus, already certain of martyrdom,
said to his two priests: “Behold, I am now to be offered as a victim
and the time of my death draws near. I ask you not to leave me at
all before I come to the end.” But when he was seized and was being
dragged to the capitol he was abandoned by them and was dragged
alone. And so when he saw that he was abandoned he is said to have
made this prayer; “Lord Jesus Christ, grant my request from holy
heaven, that this church may never in all time have the merit to
receive a bishop from among its citizens.” And we know that to the
present it has been so in this city. And he was tied to the feet of
a mad bull, and being sent headlong from the capitol he ended his
life. Catianus, Trophimus, Stremonius, Paul and Marcial lived in
the greatest sanctity, winning people to the church and spreading
the faith of Christ among all, and died in peace, confessing the
faith. And thus the former by martyrdom, as well as the latter by
confession, left the earth and were united in the heavens.
31. One of their disciples went to the city of Bourges and carried
to the people the news of Christ the lord as the saviour of all. A
few of them believed and were ordained priests and learned the ritual
of psalm-singing, and were instructed how to build a church and how
they ought to observe the worship of the omnipotent God. But as they
had small means for building as yet, the citizens asked for the house
of a certain man to use for a church. But the senators and the rest
of the better class of the place were at that time devoted to the
heathen religion and the believers were of the poor, according to the
word of the Lord with which he reproached the Jews saying; “Harlots
and publicans go into the kingdom of God before you.” And they did
not obtain the house from the person from whom they asked it, but
they found a certain Leocadius,[45] the first senator of the Gauls,
who was of the family of Vectius Epagatus, who, we have said above,
suffered in Lyons in Christ’s name. And when they had made known to
him at the same time their petition and their faith he answered,
“If my own house in the city of Bourges were worthy of this work I
would not refuse to offer it.” And when they heard this they fell
at his feet and offered three hundred gold pieces on a silver dish
and said the house was very worthy of this mystery. And he accepted
three gold pieces from them for a blessing and kindly returned the
rest, although he was yet entangled in the error of idolatry, and he
became a Christian and made his house a church. This is now the first
church in the city of Bourges, built with marvelous skill and made
illustrious by the relics of Stephen, the first martyr.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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